


Make Me Better

by WalkingDictionary (Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark)



Category: White Collar
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mentioned/Implied Relationships, Mozzie POV, One Sided Mozzie/Neal, Series Spoilers, Short--700 words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 10:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13715316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark/pseuds/WalkingDictionary
Summary: Mozzie has a lot of firsts with Neal. Most of them, Neal doesn't even know about.





	Make Me Better

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from the song [Make You Better by the Decemberists](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq76aQRmbQA).

~ * ~

Mozzie doesn’t tell Neal the first time he picks a lock that his fingers are piano fingers. Too elegant, too perfect for this job.

Never mind the way Neal’s face lights up when he picks all thirty locks without disturbing the strands of hair Mozzie planted. Never mind the way Neal looks at Mozzie like he’s his whole world.

And Mozzie forgets that Neal has other people. That Neal’s only biding time until something—someone—better comes along.

For the first time, Mozzie is worried.

~ * ~

When Neal sprints forward, dropping to his knees, falling backwards, slipping under the laser, Mozzie bites down the swell of pride.

He’s showcasing, he always does, but there’s no one but Mozzie to see.

It’s not until they’ve got the target—some small-time painting from a semi-known artist of the 1800s that Neal took a shine to—and are back at the safe house, that Mozzie notices Neal’s moving slowly.

Showoff, he says, stupid, selfish. What if things hadn’t gone as planned?

Neal laughs, lilting and musical, taking the ice pack from Mozzie, fingers brushing his.

Where’s the fun in that, he counters, humming softly as he stretches out on Mozzie couch and drifts off.

For the first time, Mozzie thinks, I love you.

~ * ~

The first time Mozzie loses Neal is when they meet Kate. She’s everything Mozzie’s not—beautiful, young, female. And Neal follows her around like a lost puppy.

He kisses her, sleeps with her, loves her.

And she gets him caught.

Mozzie never forgives her.

But, he does try to honor her memory when Neal breaks.

For the first time, he feels resignation.

~ * ~

Neal bounces around like a rubber ball, all rounded edges and bright smiles.

Mozzie ignores him in favor of flipping through police reports, reading about the still unsolved mystery of that painting they stole when Neal was still teething.

Neal notices what he’s reading and goes silent.

Then, he tells a story about how he gave Kate that picture.

Mozzie stops listening.

That was the last thing Kate left tainted—except for Neal—and he can’t stand it.

For the first time, Mozzie hates Neal.

~ * ~

It’s a bad job, one that Neal didn’t set up and one that Mozzie didn’t engineer—which is probably why it’s such a terrible outcome. Peter finds them in all that rubble. Mozzie is tucked around Neal protectively, and the Suit makes a remark. Neal, tearstained and scared, lets the Suit take him, latches on, fingers gripping Peter’s lapels. Gracelessly, Mozzie hauls himself out of the dust and debris.

No, he hadn’t planned for the ceiling to fall on them. Yes, he was with Neal. No, he didn’t see what happened. He waves away the Suit’s questions. It was the Suit’s fault they were here anyway.

His head, Peter says, look. And Mozzie looks. He curses the fact that Neal is taller than him and he curses the damn boards for trying to take a chunk out of the kid’s head.

No wonder Neal’s not himself.

Neal doesn’t care, won’t let go of Peter, lets him take him far away from Mozzie.

And for the first time, Mozzie truly despises Peter.

~ * ~

When Sara falls into their lives, Neal starts singing again. He paints and dances and cooks. And Mozzie pretends it’s for him.

He catches them in the library and tries to hide his hurt with sarcasm.

Neal never apologizes, and Mozzie doesn’t expect him to.

Sara does, though.

For the first time Mozzie feels kinship.

~ * ~

Neal’s letters line the walls. Words meant for no one. But, Mozzie finds them and he pretends they’re his.

No one else wants them, so why can’t he have them?

Neal thinks they were burned the third time he was caught. Instead, Mozzie bought a strongbox, something sturdy he could stash in a vehicle. He reads them every night.

And then Neal steals them back, hangs them all over one of Mozzie’s hideaways. Each time, a single letter on a sheet of paper is singled out, circled in red.

The message is clear, Neal is angry, upset, betrayed, and in love with anyone who isn’t Mozzie.

For the first time, Mozzie cries because of Neal.

~ * ~

The day they put Neal’s coffin in the ground is the day Mozzie vows to let him go. He keeps up appearances for the Suits and Baby Suit, but he’s already trying to move on.

So when Neal dances into his life again, Mozzie punches him once, kisses him twice, and follows him to Paris.

Neal finally admits Mozzie might be onto something.

What, Mozzie asks.

Love, Neal replies.

For the first time, Mozzie is truly happy.

~ The End ~

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to any who read this.


End file.
